Malacañang Welcomes Survey Results Showing Decrease in Unemployment

The Palace has welcomed the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report on the April 2015 round of the labor force survey, which showed a significant drop in unemployment and underemployment rates.

The report, which was released on Tuesday, said unemployment went down from 7 percent in April 2014 to 6.4 percent a year later, while underemployment dropped from 18.2 percent to 17.8 percent. These figures indicated that the number of unemployed Filipinos has declined by 243,000 since April 2014, while the number of workers who consider themselves underemployed has declined by 44,000.

The drop is geographically broad-based, with 13 out of 17 regions posting a decline in unemployment. Led by the strong performance of the services and industry sectors, total employment grew by 1.3 percent in April 2015, translating to a total net employment generation of 495,000.

“These encouraging figures reflect the results of the Aquino administration’s investment in the Filipino people. Driven by our belief in the importance of individual advancement in the collective development of the nation, we continue to empower our citizens through improvements in health and education, among other sectors,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement released on Tuesday.

“At the same time, we remain relentless in our push for reforms, cognizant that increased government efficiency and public trust lead to more investments—which will in turn bring about more and better opportunities for our countrymen. In all our activities, we in the administration remain focused on what’s best for the Filipino people, and will continue to strive toward greater heights for the benefit of current and future generations,” he further said.

According to the report, figures for the April 2014 and April 2015 surveys still exclude Leyte.

As a result of the devastation caused by Typhoon Yolanda, a new sampling frame for Leyte has to be developed to account for the large number of displaced households. PND (jm)